Hosiery



June 17, 1952 COOPER 2,600,851

HOSIERY Filed July 2, 1951 4 INVENTOR RT N- COOPE BY v ATTORNEY PatentedJune 17, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HOSIERY Gilbert N. Cooper,Wyncote, Pa. Application July 2, 1951, Serial No. 234,694

10 Claims. 1

This invention relates to hosiery andmore particularly'to womens hosieryin which a specially dyed yarn is incorporated in a selected part of thestocking whereby to impart thereto a new and novel appearance andeffect.

Among the principalobject-s of the present invention is to produce astocking wherein the heel region in particular is knit of a pre-dyedmulticolored dye-resist yarn to provide the stocking with a heel designwhich is of pronounced contrasting color with respect to that of thebody of the stocking and which is of such variegated color appearingindiscriminately throughout the region of the heel as to impart to thelatter a mottled ornamental design of exceedingly attractive design andappearance. I

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear morefully hereinafter, it being understood that the invention consistssubstantially in the combination, construction, location and relativearrangement of parts, all as will be described in detail hereinafter, asshown in the accompanying illustrative drawings and as finally pointedout in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which are illustrative of a preferredembodiment of the present invention Figure l is a perspective view of aknitted stock- 'ingconstructed in accordance with and embodying theprinciples of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the'heel region of thestocking shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the stitch construction ofa part of the flat knitted fabric extending from the unreinforced bodyor' knitting the heel of the. stocking in accordance with the presentinvention.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be observed that the presentinvention is shown incorporated in a womans stocking ofthefull-fashioned type such as is ordinarily produced upon a straightknitting machine, the said stockin hav ing the conventionally knittednon-reinforced leg or main body portion l formed at its top with a weltportion I I and at its bottom with a reinforced cradle foot portion [2,the stocking being further provided with the conventional rear seam l3extending from the top of the Welt to the tip of the toe portion M. Thereinforced foot portion of the stocking includes a heel pocket l5 whichmay be of any desired shape and configuration and which in the stockingillustrated is provided with a high splice portion l6. Also, it will benoted that in the stocking as illustrated, the heel pocket [5 and itshigh splice portion 16 are of the conventional split-heelconstruction'wherein the heel is knit of a yarn or yarns separate fromand independent of those employed in knitting the non-reinforced leg ormain body portion ll) of the stocking. I

Although the present invention is illustrated and has been describedabove as being incorporated in a full-fashioned stocking of thesplitheel construction, it is not at all limited to such constructionand, if desired, may well be incorporated in seamless (circular knit)hosiery, as well as in full-fashioned hosiery wherein the heel pocket [5and its high splice portion l6 are formed of the body yarnconventionally reinforced by one or more splicing yarns laid in with thebody yarn.

In all cases, however, the yarn which is employed to form the reinformedheel pocket [5 and the high splice portion I6 of the stocking, whetherit be used exclusively or as a splicing yarn in the heel, is of thespecially prepared form shown in Figure 5, this yarn being designated bythe reference numeral IT. The yarn ll, which is preferablymulti-filament nylon yarn of or greater denier, is pre-dyed with dyeswhich are color-fast and which resist any change in coloration when thestocking into which such pre-dyed yarn is originally knitted issubjected to subsequent liquid or vaporous treating mediums, such asthose conventionally employed for the scour ing, dyeing, washing andsetting of fabrics knitted of nylon-yarn.

In orderto attain the objectives of the present invention the yarn I! isso color-resist dyed that successive limited lengths thereof are ofcontrasting color. Thus, successive portions of the yarn, eachpreferably not exceeding one inch in length, are alternately dyed todifferent colors, the predetermined sequence of colors being repeatedfor the whole length of a given yarn. If desired, the severaldifierently colored linear segments of the yarn may be separated fromone another by a neutral or naturally colored length of the yarn, eachof which latter lengths of the yarn may subsequently be dyed the samecolor as that of the main body yarn of the stocking. However, theall-important desideratum is that the several contrastingly coloredsections of the multi-colored yarn I! must be dyed by dyes which arecolor-fast and resist absorption of other dyes and treatment media towhich the stocking may be subjected during the course of finishingthesame. Another important requirement is that each differently coloredlinear segment of the 'multi-colored yarn must be of a length onlysufficient to form a limited number of interknitted loops course-wise ofthe stocking heel fabric, which number of loops, for best results.should never equal the total number of wales in any one course of heelfabric at either side of the rear seam of the stocking. It has beenfound that where the successively colored sections of the yarn I! do notexceed a maximum of one inch in length best results are obtained, itbeing noted in this connection that the variously colored linearsegments of a given yarn need not necessarily be of uniform length butmay instead be of lengths which vary, for example, from a minimum ofinch to a maximum of 1 inch. In the particular yarn illustrated inFigure 5, the several different dye-resist colors employed are showndifferently shaded, as, e. g., yellow, tan and brown, these colors beingseparated from one another by an intervening length of neutral ornaturally colored yarn. The colors selected for any series thereof in agiven yarn should preferably be of the same general cast, although ofsufficient contrast to produce in the knitted fabric a mottled effecthaving a single dominant or basic color. Thus, other variations of thecolors of a selected series may be sky blue, royal blue and navy blue toproduce a mottled effect of generally blue tone, or light gray, slategray and black to produce a mottled effect of generally gray tone. Thecolors yellow, tan and brown above referred to would result in anoverall tortoise-shell shade of color. The contrasting dye-resist colorsrepeat themselves throughout the full length of the yarn, and, ofcourse, the several colors of each series thereof may be varied asdesired, as may be their sequence in each series thereof. Also, thenumber of different colors comprising any series may be changed asdesired.

Figure 3 illustrates diagrammatically a heel fabric knitted of themulti-colored yarn if, the heel fabric being shown joined to the bodyfabric of the stocking in accordance with conventional practice to forma so-called split heel construction of stocking wherein the heel pocketand its high splice portion [6 are formed exclusively of the relativelyheavy denier multicolored dye-resist yarn II. In this construction ofthe heel fabric, it will be noted that each course thereof is formed ofmore than one differently colored linear segment of the pre-dyed yarnIT, in consequence of which the different colored sections of the yarnappear indiscriminately throughout the whole region of the heel fabricto provide a mottled effect such as that shown in Figures 1 and 2. Thus,it will b'e noted in Figure 3 that the naturally colored segments (N) ofthe yarn l'I extend across different wales of the several courses of thefabric, the same of the fabric so that similarly colored segments arenot coextensive course-wise in any two or more adjoining courses, thereis no regularly repeated color pattern in the heel fabric. Instead,several colors of the yarn I! provide the heel fabric with a variegatedor mottled effect which is in distinct contrast with the plain solidcolor of the main body yarn of the stocking, thereby providing thelatter with an entirely new and distinctive design.

Where the yarn I! is linearly interspersed with segments of neutral ornatural color, such as the segments (N) of Figure 5, upon subsequentdyeing of the stocking in accordance with conventional practice, theseneutral segments will absorb the dye of the bath in which the stockingis finally dyed and will provide the heel of the finished stocking witha background color corresponding to that of the main body of thestocking.

It will also be understood that the present invention is subject tovarious changes and modifications which may be made from time to timewithout departing from the general principles or real spirit theerof,and it is accordingly intended to claim the same broadly, as well asspecifically, as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed as new and useful is: n

1. As a new article of manufacture, a knitted stocking having areinforced area knitted throughout of a yarn of which adjoining linearsegments are of different contrasting colors, each linear segment of theyarn being of a length only sufficient to knit a course-wise seriesofloops less in number than the minimum number of wales included in saidarea.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a knitted stocking having amarginally defined heel area knitted throughout of a pre-dyed yarn ofwhich selected linear segments are of differentdyeresist contrastingcolors, the several segments of said yarn being respectively of suchlengths as to provide said heel area with contrastingly colored groupsof course-wise knitted loops. I

3. A stocking according to claim 2 wh erein the loops of onecoloredgroup are offset course- Wise from the loops of a differentlycoloredgroup.

4. A stocking according to claim 2 wherein the several contrastingcolors of the pre-dyed yarn are of the same general shade but ofdifferent intensities. I

5. In a stocking of the character described, a plain-knitted main bodyportion having an area of definitive outline, said area being knittedthroughout of yarn having spaced linear segments pre-dyed to differentdye-resist colors, each linear segment of the yarn being extendedthrough a course-wise series of interknitted loops less in number thanthe minimum number of wales included in said area.

v6. In a stocking of the character defined in claim 5 wherein saidpre-dyed yarn is limited to the area constituting the heel of thestocking.

7. In a stocking of the character defined in claim 5 wherein saidpre-dyed yarn includes interspersed linear segments of neutral (undyed')color adapted to absorb the dye in which the stocking is finallydyed. r

8. A stocking according to claim 5 wherein the different colors of the'pr d'yed yarns are of the same shade but of varying intensity.

9. In a stocking of the character described, a reinforced area ofdefinitive outline knitted throughout of pre-dyed yarn having linearlyspaced segments of contrasting color, the'several color segments of theyarn being separated from one another by neutral (undyed) linearsegments, each linear segment of the yarn being of a length requisite toform a course-wise series of interknitted loops of a number notexceeding the minimum number of wales included in said reinforced area.

10. In a stocking as defined in claim 9 wherein the pre-dyed yarn isspace-dyed with color-fast, dye-resist dyes.

GILBERT N. COOPER,

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date Bell Apr. 2, 1935C'oller, Jr Sept. 17, 1935 Struve May 30. 1939 Smetana Nov. 28, 1939Adams Mar. 19. 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Aug; 1933

